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New Zealand Mail, Issue 1687, 29 June 1904, Page 76 (Supplement)

Mr Henry Lucy, in one of liis letters to the “Sydney Morning Herald,” makes reference to Mr Henry Norman’s recent travels in Russia, and says:—One conviction Mr Norman brought away after his visit to the Czar is that persons who believe that Japan’s swift successes on land, and sea presage early termination of the war live in a fool’s paradise. It was not a subject on which the Czar talked much. But the few words dropped indicated intention on the part of Russia to win the fight at whatever cost oi blood and money, at whatsoever pro longation of the combat. There was never a moment during the darkest reverses of the war in South Africa when the British people even approached the thought of giving in. Someone had blundered, nay, blundering was paramount at every point touched by the administration. All the same, we pressed forward, sending out more troops, some guns, and fresh generals, where the first batch had failed. That is the temper to-day which the traveller in Russia finds burning in every stratum of the population, from the Czar in his palace to the driver on his seat on the droshky. At the time of Mr Norman’s visit Japan’s successes had been confined to the sea. Proving thus far equally invincible on land does not in the slightest degree alter this shrewd observer’s view of the situation. Russia will fight on as she did a hundred years ago against the first Napoleon, if necessary will bum another Mosoow, or make equivalent sacrifice.